Saving Jake: When Addiction Hits Home

By D'Anne Burwell

Twice now I've watched my son spiral down into skin and bones, hollow eyes, and an empty soul. Powerlessness is tearing apart my heart.

D'Anne Burwell's smart, athletic son begins abusing OxyContin as a teenager, and within a year drops out of college, walks out of rehab, and lands homeless on the streets of Boulder. Struggling with fear, guilt, and a desperate need to protect her son, D'Anne also grapples with her husband's anger and her daughter's depression as the family disease of addiction impacts them all. She discovers the terrifying links between prescription-drug abuse and skyrocketing heroin use. And she comes to understand that to save her child she must step back and allow him to fight for his own soul. Saving Jakegives voice to the devastation shared by the families of addicts. Above all, it is a powerful personal story of love and redemption.

“A brave and powerful memoir... Rooting for Jake on every page, we come​to share in his struggle and in his family’s hope for recovery."— Katrina Kenison, author of The Gift of an Ordinary Day and Moments of Seeing﻿“Too much shame and silence surround addiction. Burwell’s terrific memoir will move dialogue forward on one of the top health problems of our time.”— Greg Williams, filmmaker, The Anonymous People and Generation Found, and cofounder of Facing Addiction

“Exquisitely detailed, this book chronicles the tortuous journey to recovery for both addicted individuals and all those who love and care for them.”— Katherine Ketcham, coauthor of Broken and Teens Under the Influence​